Thursday, August 10, 2006

Now I'm reading all these Edinburgh Fringe reviews I'm wishing that I'd put more effort into making sure we got there this year. It would've been a blast and the timing, between plays, would've been just right. I suppose it might have been a pig's ear - although the musical is all finished now it certainly wasn't anywhere close at the time we said we would start rehearsals. And those that did agree to come along for the ride this year might not be so keen in 12 months. An opportunity seriously missed, methinks. Ah, well, it's me own fault.

The Grauniad's Charlotte Higgins is asking whether it's right to flee mid-performance. In my decade as a flip-up seat scribbler, I didn't leave too many shows and I know that I'd personally feel horrified if someone hated what I did so much that they had to up and go. It also takes some explaining to PRs if you've absconded at the interval - which is probably a big part of what the whole interval drinks business is all about, just a way of keeping the critics in the house. So, of course, the best thing to do is have your free interval drink, fill your pockets with the buffet offerings, re-enter the main auditorium making sure that the PR has seen you, and then leg it out the fire exit.

So, Lenny Henry will be fronting a new documentary - Lenny's Britain - in which he'll travel the country to explore what makes people from different regions laugh. Naturally, funny man Lenny's frothing at the mouth. The creator of Theophilus P Wildebeeste, PC Ganga and Deakus said: “This is a very exciting project for me, as I’m going to be travelling back to some of the places where I began my career." What, Tiswas?

More comedy co-writing last night. M interrupted us to tell us there was too much laughter, although I seriously doubt that anyone else will find it as funny as me and my partner in grime. We should have the first half of a play under our belts by next week, though, and then we can go back and put the real funny stuff in.

We had lunch at the Hop Pole today. It's a 'Sizzler' pub, which is maybe one step-up from a Wetherspoon's. Nice enough but no pictures of hops or hop poles or beer manufacturing on display inside at all. But, with Carling Cold at £2 a pint, you soon forget about all that.